Franz J. Müller

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Franz Josef Müller (born September 8, 1924 in Ulm ; † March 31, 2015 in Munich ) was a member of the "Ulm Abitur group", a sub-group of the White Rose . In 1986 he founded the White Rose Foundation .

Life

Franz J. Müller collected money for postage stamps and envelopes in which White Rose leaflets were sent and was also involved in distributing the letters. For this purpose he often met in the secret organ chamber of the Martin Luther Church in Ulm with Hans Hirzel , a son of the parish priest at the time, Ernst Hirzel. With Hans Hirzel, he folded, addressed and franked 1,000 copies of the fifth White Rose leaflet. Müller was drafted into the Wehrmacht in France for military service in February 1943 .

The Gestapo arrested him in March 1943. Another member of the White Rose had given his name under torture . On April 19, 1943, the second trial of the People's Court against members of the White Rose began in the Munich Palace of Justice, chaired by Roland Freisler, President of the People's Court . Müller was sentenced to five years in prison. It is unclear why he and Susanne Hirzel , like other members of the White Rose, were not sentenced to death in this trial. Müller believed that Freisler's racism played a role, as all three were blonde and blue-eyed. During the trial, Freisler shouted: “You have a good racial appearance, how could you then be against the Führer?” At the end of the National Socialist era , Müller was released again.

Instead of emigrating to the USA in 1947 as planned , the then Mayor of Ulm, Robert Scholl , father of the executed Scholl siblings , convinced him to stay in Germany. Franz J. Müller studied law in Tübingen , Basel and Freiburg im Breisgau . He was also professionally committed to coming to terms with National Socialism. In 1986, together with members and relatives of the members of the White Rose who were executed in Munich, he set up the White Rose Foundation , which has set itself the goal of passing on the spiritual legacy of the White Rose. Since the early 1970s, Müller has been speaking regularly to school classes as a contemporary witness to report on his life and the White Rose. He is also portrayed in the White Rose Memorial in Ulm .

Franz J. Müller was among other things the recipient of the Munich Glowing Award and was awarded a Yad Vashem Medal, a medal from the State of Israel to recognize Müller's membership in the “White Rose” and for its commitment against the Nazi regime. However, this medal does not lead to an entry on the official website of Yad Vashem under the German Righteous Among the Nations .

Franz J. Müller died on March 31, 2015 at the age of 90 after a long illness in Munich.

literature

Movie

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael Kißener u. a. (Ed.), “Passing on. Studies on the White Rose ”. Festschrift for Anneliese Knoop-Graf on her 80th birthday, Konstanz 2001, p. 35.
  2. ^ English translation of the judgment in the second White Rose Trial of April 19, 1943 . In Gestapo Interrogation Transcripts: Willi Graf, Alexander Schmorell, Hans Scholl, and Sophie Scholl , NJ 1704 - Volumes 1-33, Exclamation! Publishers, Los Angeles, California USA, 2002-2003. ISBN 0-9710541-3-4 .
  3. ↑ »Franz, you are alive! It's all over " , Focus , June 4, 2012, retrieved on April 3, 2015
  4. ↑ Transcription of a longer interview with Müller (PDF; 50 kB) on BR-alpha from May 2, 2003
  5. ↑ List of the German Righteous Among the Nations (PDF; 264 kB), as of September 8, 2011
personal data
SURNAME Müller, Franz J.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Müller, Franz Josef (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German resistance fighter, member of the “Ulmer Abiturientengruppe” of the White Rose
DATE OF BIRTH September 8, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Ulm
DATE OF DEATH March 31, 2015
Place of death Munich